The proposed research will explore the use of spectral and coherence information in biomedical optical imaging for identifying biological tissue properties. Two novel optical systems are proposed for collecting spectral and coherence information about light scattered from biological samples. The optical systems will be used to examine the light scattered from suspensions of cells, suspensions of cell organelles, and cell monolayers to discern what medically relevant information can be obtained. The proposed studies will serve as a basis for developing models of light scattering by biological tissues.